Micah · chapter 1 of 7
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Micah 1 introduces the prophet Micah of Moresheth, who received the word of the Lord in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The Lord comes out of his temple to judge Samaria and Jerusalem for the idolatry and transgressions of Jacob. Micah laments, and the chapter runs through the towns of Judah with wordplays marking where disaster will advance.
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah in the eighth century BC and prophesied when Assyria threatened the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Unlike Amos, who came from Tekoa, Micah was from Moresheth, a village in Judah, and so his voice carries empathy for the country farmer. Chapter 1 opens the book with a scene of cosmic judgment and a lament for the people.
The book begins with the word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Micah summons all peoples and the whole earth to hear, because the Lord God will be a witness against them from his holy temple.
The Lord comes out of his place, comes down and treads on the high places of the earth. Under him the mountains melt like wax before the fire and the valleys split open like waters poured down a slope. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. Micah asks what is the transgression of Jacob and answers that it is Samaria, and what are the high places of Judah and answers that it is Jerusalem.
The Lord will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards; he will pour her stones down into the valley and uncover her foundations. All her carved images will be beaten to pieces and all her wages burned. Therefore Micah laments, goes barefoot and naked, howls like the jackals and moans like the ostriches, because Samaria's wound is incurable and has come to Judah, to the gate of Jerusalem.
Then the prophet lists towns of Judah with wordplays on their names, in a roll of mourning: tell it not in Gath, roll in the dust in Beth-le-aphrah, pass on in nakedness and shame, inhabitants of Shaphir. Disaster comes down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, and Lachish is named as the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, and Moresheth-gath. The chapter ends calling Judah to make herself bald in mourning for her beloved children, for they will go into exile.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Micah of Moresheth receives the word of the Lord under three kings of Judah: Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. The reference places the book in the eighth century BC, under the shadow of Assyria.
The Lord comes out of his place and comes down to tread the high places of the earth. The image presents God as a judge who intervenes personally and whose step makes creation tremble.
The cause of the judgment is the transgression of Jacob, and Micah answers that it is Samaria, and that the high places of Judah are Jerusalem. Sin is not only in the northern kingdom but also in the south, in the capital.
Micah laments and goes barefoot and naked, howling like a jackal. The prophet does not announce judgment coldly: he feels it in his body and expresses it in public mourning.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From Moresheth. — Micah 1:1
Answer: Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. — Micah 1:1
Answer: The mountains melt like wax before the fire and the valleys split open. — Micah 1:4
Answer: Samaria and Jerusalem. — Micah 1:5
Answer: Make it a heap of ruins in the open country and beat its carved images to pieces. — Micah 1:6-7
Answer: He goes barefoot and naked, howls like the jackals and moans like the ostriches. — Micah 1:8
Micah 1 reminds us that a people's sin is not only other people's business. The prophet names Samaria first, but the wound reaches Jerusalem. In a Sunday school class you can ask what problems we see in society and which of them have roots in our own home or church.
Micah's lament is another model: whoever speaks on God's behalf with passion does so not with satisfaction but with pain. When we speak with others about sin or judgment, we must do it with the humility of someone who also needs mercy, and accompany the warning with a heart that grieves for people.
Micah 1 leaves Samaria condemned, Judah wounded and the prophet weeping. In chapter 2 the book will name the concrete sins of those who abuse their power and take the houses and fields of the poor.
He was an eighth-century BC prophet from Moresheth, a village in Judah. He prophesied in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah and was a contemporary of Isaiah. His message combines denunciation of injustice with a clear hope in the coming king from Bethlehem.
In Hebrew the names of the towns sound like words of mourning or ruin. For example, Beth-le-aphrah evokes dust. The prophet uses those sounds so the listeners feel that judgment will reach each town. In English some of these connections are lost.
It is a poetic image of God taking possession of the world as judge. The high places were where other gods were worshiped, and the Lord treads them to show his rule over them and over all creation.